


The Mating Rituals of Anthropologists and (Former) Space Pirates

by Notadate (sixbeforelunch)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Hockey, Possessive Behavior, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-19
Updated: 2008-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-07 05:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixbeforelunch/pseuds/Notadate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Those two are kind of interesting in a train-wreck sort of way."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mating Rituals of Anthropologists and (Former) Space Pirates

The Avalanche couldn't shoot for anything. Dave Dixon groaned dramatically as he watched them blow a 5-on-3. The two Dallas forwards who had been in the penalty box came out within seconds of each other and promptly scored. Next to him, Jackson snorted and called the bartender over for another rum and Coke.

Dave glanced sideways at Jackson, not entirely sure how he'd ended up in a bar with him. He wasn't exactly in contention for most personable guy at the SGC and Dave has never spent much time with the man outside of work. It wasn't especially comfortable now.

It was all Reynolds's fault, Dave decided. Reynolds had invited him and Cam Mitchell out to watch the game. And then Mitchell had invited Daniel and Daniel's wife had invited herself. All fine and dandy until Reynold's kid had gotten sick with an ear infection and a fever that sent him to the ER and Mitchell had gotten stuck at the SGC at the last minute and now Dave was in a bar with Jackson and his nutcase wife watching the Avalanche play like a his daughter's Pee-Wee hockey team.

"So," Dave said. Jackson looked at him, quizzical and confused looking. Dave had nothing against the man, really. He didn't. Jackson was what they called in the locker rooms CINO—Civilian In Name Only. In a firefight, Dave would have been happy to have the man watching his back. It was just that he didn't seem to operate on the same plane of reality as the rest of the world. Which made a sad kind of sense, considering. He wasn't an easy guy to make conversation with. And, since Jackson was still staring at him, now Dave had to come up with something to say. He settled on a neutral, "You like hockey?"

Jackson tipped his head to the side and back. "More than I used to. Less than some people."

Well that was delightfully non-committal.

"The Avalanche can't play tonight."

"Yeah," Jackson said.

"You have a team?"

"Not really. Jack likes the Blackhawks. Chicago. You know."

Dave didn't know, actually, since when it came to personal information O'Neill wasn't so much a closed book as a locked filing cabinet in a secure room guarded by rabid wolves, but he just nodded. They lapsed into silence again, watching a beer commercial

"So, hey, congratulations," Dave said.

Jackson blinked at him. "For what?"

"The whole marriage thing."

"Oh. That."

Dave bit back a laugh. "Yeah. That. How's it going?"

"Fine."

Dave downed the last of his beer and nodded as the bartender came over to refill it. If O'Neill was a locked filing cabinet, Jackson was an encrypted data crystal hidden on a dead planet in deep space with a laser-guided missile system guarding the stargate.

"First year's the hardest. After that, you kind of get used to each other and it stops being so strange all the time."

Jackson shrugged. "I wouldn't really know."

Right. Because his first wife had gotten snaked after the first year. How's that boot tasting right about now, Dave?

"I, uh. I didn't mean—"

"Stars might have a shot at the playoffs this year, you think?"

"Definitely," Dave said even though with their ranking this late in the season, it was pretty much assured that they didn't. He doubted Jackson even knew how teams made it into the playoffs, much less kept track of who was in contention, but Dave wasn't above accepting an out when one was handed to him.

They fell back into the uncomfortable silence. Or maybe Dave was the only one who found it uncomfortable. Jackson was just sort of staring out into space, probably planning his next planet saving adventure, or possibly just trying to decide what color to paint his kitchen. Who could tell?

The game went to commercial again and Dave looked around the bar. Mitchell was still supposed to show up at some point and then they'd have a nice little buffer. Mitchell knew how to shoot the breeze and talk about the sort of nothing that you talked about in a sports bar and he knew how to handle Daniel and his nut wife.

And there she was, down at the end of the bar, knocking back shots of tequila in between large fruity drinks. He'd heard a rumor once around the base that the woman couldn't get drunk. Something about the changes to her body from the snake. True or not, that much alcohol had to be costing a small fortune.

He was actually pretty glad that Vala had camped down at the end of the bar for whatever reason. Jackson at least was half normal. Kind of scatterbrained in a brilliant scientist sort of way, standoffish sometimes, but mostly normal. Vala was every kind of strange in every kind of way. Not that she hadn't earned her place. She was good people, when you got down to it. It was just hard sometimes to see past the facade. Probably how she wanted it, and that was her business, but Dave didn't see how it was his job to put the energy in to get to the real woman underneath when she was clearly happy to let the world at large only see the show.

She saw him looking at her and sent him a friendly sort of wave. He remembered when she'd first shown up, when every move she made had been some kind of play at seduction. She seemed, thankfully, to have gotten past that stage. He gave her a nod.

"What's she doing down there anyway? Besides maxing out a credit card on booze, I mean."

Jackson rolled his eyes and pursed his lips and sighed all at once, which was pretty impressive to see. "Playing."

"Playing what?"

Jackson just shook his head. Dave kept glancing down at the end of the bar to see if he could figure out her game. She didn't seem to be doing much of anything. The TV at that end of the bar was showing Paralympics coverage and she seemed to be following the basketball game, rooting for Canada against Germany near as he could tell, but that was about it.

In the second period, the Avalanche were losing 3-1 and Vala had attracted herself a drunken admirer with grabby hands. Dave glanced at Daniel who didn't seem likely to go over there any time soon. They might have been having some sort of telepathic conversation, though, looks they were giving each other. With their history, anything was possible. Grabby Hands was oblivious to it all and put his hand in a very inappropriate place. Dave clenched the glass in his hand and looked at Jackson. If someone touched his wife there, he'd knock them into another solar system, but Jackson just very subtly shook his head and mouthed the word 'No'.

Vala stuck her bottom lip out just slightly and Mr. Grabby took that as an invitation to grab her left breast. Which was apparently enough for Jackson. He got up from the bar and put a hand on the guy's neck.

"Take a walk."

"I was here first," the guy said, or something like it. It came out pretty slurred.

Jackson leaned in close and said something else that Dave couldn't hear, but that made Vala grin that scary cat-who-ate-the-canary grin of hers. Mr. Grabby turned a shade of pale, stumbled off of his bar stool and took off with a little helpful shove from Jackson.

Jackson crossed his arms and glared at her. Vala smiled back at him. "Are you happy now?"

"Exceedingly," Vala said.

Mitchell slid into the seat next to him and Dave started. He'd been watching the show at the end of the bar and hadn't seen him come in.

"What did I miss?"

"Crap game, but those two are kind of interesting in a train-wreck sort of way."

"They usually are," Mitchell said and ordered a beer.

"—deeply disturbing," Dave heard Jackson say.

"It's not my fault I get molested in bars."

"I never said it was your fault. But I get pretty tired of being the one to handle it when you're perfectly capable of fending guys like that off all by yourself."

"But it's hotter when you do it," Vala said. Jackson didn't say anything, but Dave could see him puff out his chest just a little.

Vala caught sight of Mitchell and came flying down to hug him. "Cameron, tell Daniel to be a normal man and enjoy the opportunity to show off the size of his—."

"Vala," Daniel said sharply with a pointed look for emphasis.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Don't put me in the middle of this," Mitchell said.

"I am going to quote feminist theory to you the entire way home," Daniel muttered, settling into the stool next to Mitchell.

Vala made a face and leaned over to Dave, whispering sotto voice, "Totally worth it."

fin


End file.
